Account Based Selling Blog

A recent study regarding sales efficiency found that sellers spend 27% of their time on completely non-sales related activities. Examples of those activities include looking up information about the contact or account, finding relevant uses cases to reference, or even looking for competitive technology. But let’s put into context what 27% of a seller’s time actually means; that is one week of the month or one quarter of the year. Imagine giving a seller an additional quarter to make their number or week to make their month. That would have impact.

Sellers can recover their proficiency by breaking down call prep into three parts – each one minute a piece with the right tools. The key is having the information all in one place and to not over analyze the process.

Minute One – The Account. Companies make purchases because they are either dissatisfied with what they currently have or they have a pain they have yet to remedy. Its the seller’s responsibility to understand which one to make the right sales play. First, ascertain if the prospect is using a competitive solution to see if they have already addressed the issue your company can solve. It they have not, look for triggering events to link your solution to solve stated pains or goals. Use the News!

Minute Two – The Buyers. CEB has stated that the average B2B purchase has 5.4 decision makers and most sellers are talking to the lowest one on the org chart. Successful sellers uncover the entire buying committee by name and position. Then they have these individuals ready for the reference as individuals to contact for unanswered questions or invites for the next steps of the sales process. By letting the contact know – you know the other players in the process and are going to bring them into the evaluation gives you power later in the sales process.

Minute Three – Use Cases. Buyers want to understand how their peers have used your solution to solve similar problems. Having specific use cases available by industry, size, location, competitor, title, and product before the call will show the prospect you are knowledgeable and prepared. It will also show you are a trusted resource and perhaps a notch better than your competition for that reason alone.

Most sellers don’t have much of this information available to them, much less so to be able to prepare in three minutes. However, this data is readily available, whether inside or outside of Salesforce.com. Gathering this information and placing it inside of the Account / Lead / Opportunity record is core functionality for RampedUp – but it can also be uncovered in other ways. But then we are back to where we started – 27% of a sellers time is spent looking for this stuff already.

Jill Konrath coined the term Use the News– when she unveiled her breakthrough methodology of Trigger Event Selling. The concept is very simple; companies share their achievements / goals in the form of press releases and we as sales people should align our products and services to help reinforce those achievements / goals. If a company takes the time, energy, and effort to create a press release then that company obviously thinks the topic is very important. The opposite is also the case. If a company is receiving bad press then that company wants to be able to tell the media, stock holders, and customers that that company is doing everything within its power to rectify the situation. And more importantly, has the process in place to ensure it won’t happen again.

Brian Carroll – B2B Lead Blog, July 26, 2016

Savvy Sellers combine Trigger Event Selling with Account-Based Selling by looking for these potential selling activities within their targeted accounts. This isn’t a new idea, Google News Alerts can be set up for every targeted account inside of a seller’s territory and has been available for over a decade. The best part about Google News is that it’s free as well.

The problem with Google News alerts however is that it sits outside of Salesforce.com, and as my old sales manager told me, “If it’s not in Salesforce.com – it doesn’t count.” Trigger Events need to be inside the Salesforce.com account record available for the entire account team to see. A BDR needs to reference an account using the same trigger on which a sale person is building a business case that will be strategized with a sales manager. Only then can we link Triggering Events to Account-Based Selling successfully.

Account Based Selling empowers reps to invest the time and energy needed to create meaningful content for their targeted accounts. Successful sellers use this newfound empowerment to tailor messaging that results in action. Unfortunately, too many sellers used canned / boilerplate content focused on the achievements of their own company that they never see any results. Try these three tricks to write the perfect demand generation campaign.

Acknowledge the Buying Committee. Nothing shows that you have done your homework more than switching the generic line, “If you aren’t the most suitable person then please connect me with someone who is’ to “I would like to schedule 15 minutes to discuss Account Based Selling. I am also scheduling time with Jane Dixon to get her input as well”. Try this approach and then copy the other members of the buying committee as well.

Align with Triggering Events. Using the News to align your company’s deliverables to the stated goals of your buyer is a sure-fire way to get noticed. Companies make the news because they want to – i.e. a press release promoting a new product, market, or partnership – or they don’t – such as a law suit or poor earnings. Either way, by positioning your solution to help promote a stated initiative or mitigate unwelcome news, you will quickly get noticed.

Reference Customer Success Stories. Buyers are busy people that have been given the responsibility to make financial decisions because it’s their name on the line. Make it easy for them to take a meeting with you by giving them relevant use cases by industry, company size, and location. 92% of Buyers stated in a recent SAP survey that they want this type of information to help them make a decision.

Using any of these tricks will improve the performance of your demand generation campaigns but using all THREE will show the best results. Here is an example of what that would look like.

Hi John,

As the VP of Sales at Tellio, I am looking to get 15 minutes of your time to discuss improving seller results through Account Based Selling tools. If this doesn’t fall under you directly, perhaps you could forward me to Jane Dixon in Sales Operations.

I recently saw where Tellio has a new product line helping HR professionals, complimenting your already strong presence with Finance. RampedUp has helped similar companies in the Human Resources space such as Ceridian and Workday by improving seller productivity by 27%. How? We provided company, customer, and contact details all inside of the account record in Salesforce.com. Now sellers don’t have to search for time-consuming sales data outside of their CRM.

Again, if you are free for 15 minutes next Tuesday afternoon then I can share in greater detail.

The first Outbound Conference is being hosted in Atlanta GA the week of April 10 at the Intercontinental Hotel by some impressive thought leaders as @SalesGravy and @thesaleshunter. Anthony Iannarino (@iannarino) explains, “The morning will consist of four keynote speeches, all centered around the themes of Prospecting, Pipeline, and Productivity. The afternoon sessions will include five workshops, including one by special guest, Laura Madison (@lauradrives).” If you are going – keep in mind how Account-based selling can improve your rate of return

Prospecting – I wrote this blog about How to do Account-Based Prospecting. Set up a 5X5 prospecting cadence that uses triggering events and relevant use cases over a short period of time to get your prospects’ attention. Of course, we use the phone and email over a 5 day pattern to ensure we are getting our prospects attention.

Pipeline – Q2 is upon us and if you didn’t make your Q1 number you need to close this quarter out strong. I wrote this blog post on how to Close out Q2 Strong focusing on getting past the ROI argument, prioritizing your pipeline, and uncovering a source of urgency to close deals.

Productivity – Sales people spend 22% of their time on non-sales related tasks such as trying to find data that should already be in salesforce.com. By putting contact, customer, and company data all in one place you can give your reps that time back. Stop spending hours preparing for a sales call and use the three minute rule – with the right tools – to be a more impactful seller.

The Complete List of Marketo Customers contains 7804 Companies is available at no charge. Just complete the form and receive a link to download the CSV. Data includes: HQ Name, URL, Address, Phone, Industry, Employee Size, and contacts. Using an install list like this is a great way to define your Account-Based Selling Strategy. If you like this list – we follow 3100 additional technologies.Here is the list of categories!

Account-Based Sales and Marketing is THE best practice for modern, revenue-driven organizations. It (ABS) is the product of Sales and Marketing alignment in that both teams are hyper-focused on a select number of targeted accounts. But how does a company select their accounts? Understanding the technologies a company uses can define your Account-Based Selling Strategy in these three ways:

A replacement strategy identifies a competitor’s weaknesses while emphasizing your strengths. The idea is to prioritize your selling efforts based on the accounts that are utilizing your direct competition. The pro’s: these companies already see the value in your type of solution and have it budgeted. The con’s: unseating an incumbent is difficult for political and contractual reasons. The person who selected your competition has a vested interest in its success and may be in a log-term contract as well.

A complementary strategy showcases how your software or service works well with the investment in technology already made. My company is a perfect example. RampedUp works inside of Salesforce.com therefore Salesforce.com users would be a great start for us. Now this can be limiting if your software doesn’t “play well with others” but some companies use installed technologies to model would-be buying behaviors. As an example, If a company would purchase a product with the same level of sophistication and price point as my solution, then they may be a good fit for me.

An evangelistic strategy educates the buyer on the importance of purchasing a new type of software not currently in their stack. This deductive modelling exercise takes firmographic traits such as revenue, industry, employee size, and location THEN focuses on companies NOT using competitive or complimentary technologies. This is a great way to break-in new ground for a product, BDR team, or channel partner.

All three strategies are predicted on the fact you know what the buyer is using before pursuit. If you don’t have this information on the account page inside of Salesforce.com then you may misalign from the very beginning. RampedUp can help find these technologies.

Account-Based Prospecting or Sales Development is all the rage right now because it aligns demand generation activities with seller priorities. The process is different than a mass communication effort but it shouldn’t paralyze execution by trying to write the perfect pitch. There is no such thing. Account-Based Prospecting is finding the right person at the right time with the right message.

1. Choose a Strategy – Understanding the technologies a company uses allows a seller to craft the appropriate pursuit strategy. A replacement strategy identifies a competitor’s weaknesses while emphasizing your strengths. An evangelistic strategy educates the buyer on the importance of purchasing a new type of software not currently in their stack. A complementary strategy showcases how your software or service works well with the investment in technology already made.

2. Start High – Prospecting obeys the laws of gravity, it is a lot easier to get sponsored from on high and be referred down than it is to have someone lower on the org chart try to champion your idea upwards. When prospecting a target account, start with the C-suite, then move to the V-suite, then on to the functional areas of the organization.

3. Tailor your message – Your message can be tailored by external or internal references and if you can use both you are better off than most. An external source is a trigger event (Here is a list from Brian Carroll) that a company shares with the public usually through a Press Release. Use your solution to help with whatever your targeted account is promoting for better response. An internal source is a use case based on a current customer. 90% of B2B buyers want a relevant use case to help them make a decision.

Put into Action – Getting a response from your prospecting requires the proper expectation. Your prospects are busy and are being solicited by hundreds of people just like you with a product that does the same thing yours does. With that in mind, I recommend you focus your efforts on short controlled bursts for optimal results. I call it a 5×5 plan. A multi-media, multi-touch, multi-message blitz over the course of one business week.

Email 1 – Intro email referencing External Source and how you can help

Call 1 – Follow up phone call referencing External Source and how you can help

Account Based Selling, as defined by Knowledgetree, is a B2B sales model that uses an account–based approach, rather than a lead-based or contact based approach, to predict which companies are ready and likely to buy. The problem is that most Salesforce.com instances aren’t completely or accurately populated to create a model that will predict which companies are most likely to buy. I refer to this problem as Dirty Data and data becomes dirty for numerous reasons:

Account-Based Selling starts with Cleaning Salesforce.com

It was keyed in incorrectly by a seller

It was purposefully provided inaccurately through an online form

It was already outdated when it was uploaded from a 3rd party

But most likely the reason your data is dirty is because the individual is no longer employed at the company you have them associated. TheBureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports the average person changes jobs ten to fifteen times (with an average of 12 job changes) during his or her career.

While inaccurate data is a problem for contact records – the silent killers for Account-Based Sellers are incomplete records.

At RampedUp, we look at cleaning the entire Account record. That includes populating the Account with firmographic detail, identifying inactive contact records, enhancing existing records, and adding key stakeholders that aren’t present. This gives a full view of the 5.4 buyers in the buying committee and Account-Based insight that allows for better qualification.

When old contacts are identified, it is a best practice to follow them to their next job – especially if they were a former user. This is a great lead source considering the sales effort already put into these individuals.

Having a clean, standardized, and accurate Account in Salesforce.com is the key ingredient to Account-Based Selling. From there, it is easy to look at your territory in its entirety to find targets based on size, industry, and technology install to devise a pursuit strategy. A close examination of the Closed Won Opportunities inside of the RampedUp Win Vault can not only help you understand who bought – but why.

You can learn more about cleaning Salesforce.com on the Account or System level here!

ABM resonates so well with Sellers because most of us are given a defined set of target accounts in the form of a territory. The final mile for sellers is taking these concepts and putting into action inside of Salesforce.com. In one sense, Salesforce.com is already set up for Account-Based Selling (ABS) as accounts have already been targeted and assigned to sellers. The next step for putting Account-based principals into practice need to involve the following:

1) Triggering Events: Companies are inexorably pressed with the responsibility of growth. That can either mean organically with a new product, market, or channel or it could mean through merger or acquisition. Sometimes the growth strategy is successful where more money / resources are needed or sometimes it fails where new leadership is brought in to change the direction of the company. Sellers need to identify their prospect’s growth goals inside of Salesforce.com and align their efforts accordingly for a true account-based sales approach. Hubspot has cataloged the top 30 sales triggers for a quick primer.

2) Identifying the Buying Committee: As my mentor, Rick Page, once told me, “Companies don’t buy anything – people do – and you better have a plan to sell to each one of them if you want to make a career out of selling.” The Corporate Executive Board (CEB) reinforces this idea with their landmark findings that 5.4 people have to formally sign off on every B2B purchase. Relying solely on Salesforce.com to find these 5,4 buyers will not yield the desired results – after all, B2B data expires at a 25% yearly rate. Sellers need to know the titles that make up their typical buying committee and the people that are in those roles. Only then can an Account-based strategy be executed inside of Salesforce.com.

3) Installed Technologies: Understanding the technologies a company uses allows a seller to craft the appropriate pursuit strategy. A replacement strategy identifies a competitor’s weaknesses while emphasizing your strengths. A complementary strategy showcases how your software or service works well with the investment in technology already made. An evangelistic strategy educates the buyer on the importance of purchasing a new type of software not currently in their stack. All three strategies are predicted on the fact you know what the buyer is using before pursuit. If you don’t have this information on the account page inside of Salesforce.com then you may misalign from the very beginning.

In closing, Account-based Marketing is white hot right now because it truly is the convergence of sales and marketing into one pursuit. Sellers love it because we have been focusing on a narrow subset of accounts (aka territory) for quite sometime. The issue sellers find is that while marketing has cool new tools to implement this strategy, sales is left with an outdated instance of salesforce.com. Luckily, tools like RampedUp.iocan help share triggering events, expose buyers in the buying committee, and understand the installed technology on their targeted accounts – all on the account record – to reinforce account-based principles inside of Salesforce.com.

Speed to Lead – 5 reasons to append leads in Salesforce.com in Real-Time

The art of converting a web visitor’s attention is daunting. First, you have to decide your intended audience, what they would like to hear, and in what median you should deliver it. Second, you have to have a perfect balance of content and teaser – give away too little and they will leave, give away too much and they won’t need to engage further. Third, what information do I ask for on the web-form, the bare minimum will give the most quantity whereas more required fields will give the best quality.

As you consider this quandary, these are 5 reasons companies append leads in Salesforce.com in real-time:

Buyers are lairs – A recent survey found that 70% of Online forms are purposefully completed with inaccurate or incorrect information! The reasons are obvious, the applicant wants your gated content but doesn’t want to be solicited in return.

If you’re not first – you’re last – Research from InsideSales.com shows that 35–50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first. Incomplete leads don’t receive the same level of urgency and attention as their more complete counterparts. This particularly impacts routing hot leads to BDR’s. It is hard to route a lead if you don’t know much about them.

Lead scoring – Accurate contact and company detail provides the ability to better score a lead. The issue, however, is asking for information such as title, company, industry, size, revenue, and phone tends to be what prevents conversions in the first place. The proverbial catch 22.

Progressive profiling – This is the concept of building on your understanding of the lead and asking for more contact detail in exchange for gated information. The best companies ask for information not publicly available and is unique to their sales process. Those questions can be where they are in the buying process, budget, or availability for an appointment with a rep.

Hiding behind Gmail – Oftentimes, our web visitors will use a gmail address to remain anonymous. One way to get around this is to require a business email address but you will watch your conversions drop decidedly. With autocomplete functionality in most browsers, this is has become a preferred method to quickly exchange contact details for gated information.

Many companies are looking for a way to overcome the quantity vs quality conundrum and have found that real-time lead appending works. This is the process of taking the barest of information on the online form and appending it with contact and company detail for a rich lead record. In turn, inaccurate and incomplete data is corrected and routed to the appropriate personnel for a timely response. That includes Gmail addresses! Leads are scored based on behavior but also contact and company detail – thus identifying hot leads in target companies.

RampedUp enables real-time lead appending inside of Salesforce.com. The results are just as you would expect. Previously unknown visitors are profiled and contacted. Leads are routed based on qualification metrics and nurtured based on that qualification. And lastly, BDR’s spend their time contacting leads instead of researching them – leading to increased productivity.